Der Blogger

"Enough is enough!" "This can't go on!" "This has to stop!" These were among the comments that came through the blizzard of commentary after the massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Broward County. We have heard these words before.

Wanderlust

As a travel destination, Germany has never been more popular. With tourist numbers forecast to rise for an eighth consecutive year, what is the country doing right to account for its thriving visitor numbers?

Akademia

For education experts, English language lessons have proven valuable in primary schools in North Rhine-Westphalia. But the Alternative for Germany’s state parliamentary group in NRW have a rather different view.

Essen & Trinken

Police in the city of Osnabrück had to clear crowds in front of a new döner kebab shop on Tuesday, after about 150 hungry people packed the street outside, eager to get their hands on a döner for only €0.01.

Germericana

Many Americans have German ancestors — and that's also the case for actress Meghan Markle, who will be marrying Prince Harry, himself a descendant of the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, a German dynasty.

Germany vaccination: Fines plan as measles cases rise

Health Minister Hermann Gröhe said it was necessary to tighten the law because of a measles epidemic. He was speaking to the popular daily Bild.

“Continuing deaths from measles cannot leave anyone indifferent,” he said.
The government wants kindergartens to report on any parents who fail to show a doctor’s note proving vaccination.

Failure to do so could mean expulsion of the child from the daycare centre, under the revised law. It is expected to be adopted next month.

A mother of three died of measles in the city of Essen this week.

Italy has recorded nearly three times more measles cases so far this year than for all of 2016.

Last week the Italian government ruled that parents must vaccinate their children against 12 common illnesses before enrolling them at state-run schools.

Those illnesses include measles, polio, whooping cough and hepatitis B.
By mid-April this year Germany had 410 measles cases, compared with 325 for the whole of 2016, the Robert Koch Institute reported.

The institute said that besides children, all adults born since 1970 should get immunised against measles, if they had not had the measles jab or had had it only once.

Italian officials have attacked what they call “anti-scientific” theories which have led to vaccination rates falling well below levels deemed safe to prevent outbreaks.

Those theories include a long discredited link between autism and the MMR (measles, mumps and rubella) vaccine.

Kultur

The German term "Heimat," often translated as "homeland," was long thought of as tacky, regressive, and even politically dubious. But since the election, German politicians across the spectrum are using it once again.

Das Kino

This month's Berlin film festival, Europe's first major cinema showcase in the wake of the Harvey Weinstein revelations, will shine a light on sexual misconduct in the industry, its director said on Tuesday.

Gesundheit

In the run-up to international World Cancer Day on Sunday, experts have said that about half of all cancer cases in Germany could be prevented by a healthier lifestyle. Across the country, around 500,000 people are diagnosed with cancer each year. But experts say things like exercise could cut this figure in half. “Movement can […]